Hybrid conferences
– being there without going there www.wizerize.com
Main Event
Remote Speaker
Hybrid conferences:
Extending the magic to those who could not be present Let’s get one thing straight: Nothing beats being present at a well-prepared and wellexecuted conference.
ple out of their daily work. In such situations hybrid conferences become an interesting alternative.
When you are in the same room with other people you can share much more than information. You become part of an energizing experience that can motivate and even change individuals.
A Wizer Hybrid Conference is always centered on a main conference. This is the main component that all other ways of participating gravitate around.
If it were up to us we would always try to get everybody into the same room. But compromises are a part of life.
Conference hubs can however be a valuable supplement. In a hub a group of people get together in a room and participate in selected parts of the main conference.
Conflicting priorities can prevent people from flying in. So can the cost of taking many peo-
The key speakers should always be part of the main conference. But it can be attrac-
Conference Hub
Remote Participant
tive having the speaker join in from a remote location – especially if the alternative is not getting to hear your key speaker at all.
a strong collective experience rather than focusing on technological challenges.
For those who cannot be part of the main conference (or the conference hubs) participation from an office, a private home – or even a hotel room or a Smartphone somewhere – can be a good fall back opportunity.
Many of us have already tried participating in different kinds of virtual meetings – and most of these experiences have not been very engaging.
And finally – for those who are simply engaged with something else, somewhere else at the time of the conference – we can offer a post experience that is almost as valuable as being there, even allowing late arrivals to contribute actively to votings and brainstorms whenever this is relevant. Creating the right mix of these different options is what a great hybrid conference is all about. And this has much more to do with meeting design than with technology.
This is why the focus of Wizer is on developing engagement techniques designed for the challenges and opportunities of hybrid meetings – and not solely on developing great software. The purpose of the following pages is to share some of our experiences and concepts about creating great hybrid conferences. Wizer can also take full responsibility for the complete technical infrastructure – but there is no reason to write a brochure on that.
The real challenge of engaging all participants – whether present or not – is creating Hybrid events: share the experience 3
Conference Hub
Give each hub it’s own life Participants who get together on a remote location get a much stronger experience when they feel part of the main conference while at the same time being part of a strong separate group. But there are traps. Do not expect a conference hub to simply follow the main conference program during a full day – this will seldom prove sufficiently engaging. Instead we usually recommend that hubs be integrated into selected sections of the main program – whilst allowing them to have their own life during other sections. When hubs are following the main conference the host of the main conference can actually address the participants directly, which has proven immensely successful. This is achieved by securing two-way communications to each hub – and by projecting the hubs to the main screen while talking to them. In these sections the hubs can also contribute in votings,
brainstorms and all other interactivity exactly as if they were present. When hubs are on their own their work will have more the character of a workshop. This means that each hub must have a main moderator responsible for the processes and for keeping track of time. Often hubs follow a parallel process to that of the main conference – but hubs can also work on separate processes (especially if they share specific tasks and interests). The simple support for a hub is internet streaming with integrated audience participating options. Technically this only demands a PC on the Internet (and speakers/projector if the group consists of more than a few people). This set-up can be upgraded with two way video like Skype or video conferencing, with more PCs per hub when more than 12 people are present or even with individual input devices so people can participate as if they were part of the main conference.
Hybrid events: share the experience 5
Remote Participant
Being there no matter where you are If you can neither be part of the main conference nor in a conference hub you can still be an active participant: Either online via your PC – or even on your Smartphone. The key here is streaming selected parts of the conference to the remote participants. But this is only one part of the solution. The real feeling of participating only happens when you also allow remote audiences to be active contributors – part of votings, brainstorms and other ways of allowing them to share their questions and ideas. If a large group is participating online it has proved a very effective idea to dedicate a separate host to this part of the audience. This has also proved quite important in keeping a high energy level for people sitting in remote locations. As we have worked with audiences in the poorer parts of Africa and the Middle East we have experience in offering a palette of different streaming bandwidths from
razor sharp HD images all the way down to 0,02MBit (it’s not pretty – but you can actually follow…) If you want to invite people to follow the conference, but who are not allowed to participate actively, we call this “Observers”. Basically they can use the same services as the remote participants – but without any privileges besides passive watching.
Hybrid events: share the experience 7
Remote Speaker
Long distance inspiration When it is not possible to have key speakers present at an event, organizers sometimes settle for the second best speaker options or for a pre-produced, taped message. Now we suggest a better alternative: Why not allow speakers to participate in real time from anywhere in the world? The magic appears through allowing full interaction with the speaker. This can take place in a number of ways:
• Live interviews from the conference • A llowing external speakers to ask questions – in the form of voting or brainstorm – to the participants and join the discussion on the feedback • A llowing participants to ask questions to the speaker (via a spokesmen – or via Wizer) Skype works remarkably well – most of the time. But if we are dependent on the input we can upgrade to a dedicated video conferencing solution and take different measures to secure the bandwidth for a HD connection (that is possible in most locations nowadays).
Hybrid events: share the experience 9
Asynchronous participation
Being late without missing out For truly global companies it is not possible to find one time of day that is convenient for everybody, since it’s always the middle of the night somewhere…. At a recent global event we invited all remote participants to join in at the same time – but also informed all participants from Asia (for whom the time was most inconvenient) that they could choose to get online the following morning. Anyone who logged in before the deadline experienced exactly the same flow as anybody else – including the option of voting, brainstorming and sharing their comments. The creation of the final report was simply delayed 12 hours – allowing everybody to participate. Immediately after the deadline the site was turned into an online reporting site. So those who did not make it in time could still see the presentations. They were not allowed to vote but they could experience the input from their colleagues. In other cases it can be relevant to keep the online site open for input over a longer period – allowing everyone to comment (and comment on comments) and to share dynamic votes with result being updated every time a new vote is added.
Hybrid events: share the experience 11
Hybrid conferences
– being there without going there
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